Remi Adefulu
At least one person was killed, and five others critically injured as the All Progressives Congress (APC) held it’s local government congresses in Lagos yesterday.
Indications that things may not go smoothly emerged prior to the exercise as the Appeal Committee that looked into the ward congresses did not make its findings known ahead of yesterday’s exercise.
Though the local government congresses were generally peaceful across the state, some factions within the party held parallel congresses.
In Agege, an unidentified man said to be a staff of Agege Local Government Area was shot dead during a shootout between loyalists of different camps in the area.
Sunday Sun learnt that the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Mudashiru Obasa had earlier convened a meeting to resolve gray areas.
This followed the lingering political crisis affecting most council areas in the state after the local government election last year.
Sporadic shootings, which was said to have led to the death of the deceased, occurred almost immediately after the congress in Agege. Prior to the incident, some unaccredited party members were said to have insisted on entering the polling venue but were resisted by the police.
In Mushin Local Government Area, the camp of APC Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire held a separate congress.
Banire has been at loggerheads with the leadership of the party in the state, over alleged failure to follow the party constitution during the council election last year. In Bariga Local Council Development Area (LCDA), it took the intervention of the council chairman, Mr. Kolade Alabi, to stop a face-off among protesting party members.
The protesters had stormed the council secretariat in their numbers to protest alleged anomalies in the exercise. Enraged protesters were said to have beaten up an APC chieftain.
In Ikeja Local government Area, party delegates gathered for the congress to elect a 27-man council executive led by Alhaji Dally Adeokun.
Reports across the state indicated that the exercise was peaceful, even as it was observed that holding of parallel congress might have ensured this.
Lagos APC spokesman Mr. Joe Igbokwe said the party was still investigating the Agege killing and would not like to say much for now.
APC vice chairman, Mr. Fouad Oki, expressed sadness at the turn of events in the party.
Said he: “First and foremost, my heartfelt sympathy goes to the families of those who lost their lives during the unfortunate incident because I have it on good authority that two people died.
“May be we would not have witnessed this type of incident if our leaders had followed our own rules as enshrined in our party constitution. It is unfortunate that we did not allow reason to prevail and learn to obey our own rules.
Oki who has been at loggerheads with the party added, “on our part, we held the congresses based on the constitutionally recognized 20 local governments and 245 wards.”